A participant in CWS’ Growing Healthier food and nutrition security program, Maricela demonstrates gardening skills she’s learned at a community fair near her home in Totonicapan, Guatemala. Photo: Sean Hawkey
Guatemala City, Guatemala – In honor of World Food Day (October 16), global humanitarian agency Church World Service and member organizations of the Regional Program for Food Security and Sovereignty (PRESSAN, El Programa Regional para la Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria) will conduct an October 15 press conference in Guatemala City in advance of a regional food security forum, October 16, in Guatemala’s provincial capital Totonicapán.
The half-day World Food Day forum will highlight CWS and PRESSAN development strategies that are helping some of the poorest families in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua produce their own sustainable solutions to the region’s chronic food insecurity and malnutrition. Their collaborative efforts are part of a multi-year CWS Growing Healthier campaign, supported in part by the U.S.-based Foods Resource Bank.
The forum is part of an annual session held by The Regional Program on Food Security and Sovereignty, since its establishment in 2009.
***Members of the media are invited to the October 15 press conference in Guatemala City and to attend the October 16 World Food Day forum in Totonicapán. Advance interviews by arrangement.***
WHAT:
Press Conference
on
A regional program for food security and sovereignty in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
and
A Regional World Food Day Forum
on
Strategies to reduce malnutrition in children under age 5 in Totonicapán
WHO:
Presented by PRESSAN – The Regional Program for Food Security and Sovereignty
A collaborative initiative of
- Humanitarian agency Church World Service Latin America and Caribbean Region and its regional partners:
- AMC – Christian Medical Action (In Spanish, Accion Médica Cristiana)
- CASM – The Mennonite Commission for Social Action (In Spanish, Comision de Accion Social Menonita)
- CIEETS – The Interchurch Center for Theological and Social Studies (In Spanish, Centro Intereclesial de Estudios Teológicos y Sociales), Managua, Nicaragua
- CIEDEG – The Guatemalan Conference of Evangelical Churches (In Spanish, Conferencia de Iglesias Evangelicas de Guatemala)
Forum presenters:
- Members of PRESSAN
- Campesino spokespersons from Growing Healthier farming communities in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
- Olga Tumax, spokesperson for the National Association of Guatemalan Women Ixmucané
- Dr. Ana Victoria Román, Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP, or in Spanish, Instituto de Nutrición de Centro América y Panamá)www.incap.org.gt/index.php/en/
- A representative of the Guatemala Ministry of Economy
- A representative of the Guatemala Ministry of Health
- Representative of the Guatemalan Conference of Evangelical Churches (CIEDEG)
- Spokesperson for the Ixil* Integrated Development Coordinator (CODI, or in Spanish, Coordinadora de Desarrollo Integral Ixil), a local CIEDEG partner
* The Ixil are indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala, who reside in the northern part of the department of El Quiché.
WHEN/WHERE:
Press Conference
October 15, 2012
Hotel Pan American
9a calle 5-63 zona 1
Guatemala City, Guatemala
- 8:00 a.m. Welcome and Registration of Participants
- 8:30 a.m. Roundtable presentation by PRESSAN members
- 8:45 a.m. The status of acute and chronic child malnutrition within communities being served in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
- 9:00 a.m. Report on next-step interventions under development
- 9:15 a.m. Round Questions and Answers
Food Security Forum
“Strategies to Reduce the Chronic Malnutrition of Children Under Age 5 in Totonicapán”
October 16, 2012 – World Food Day
Municipal Theater
Provincial capital Totonicapán, Guatemala
10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
For information on CWS Latin America Caribbean Region and the Growing Healthier initiative: www.cwslac.org
For information on CWS development programs internationally: www.churchworldservice.org
Agenda Conferencia de Prensa Programa Regional de Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria
###
BACKGROUNDER
WORLD FOOD DAY – CENTRAL AMERICA
October 15 Press Conference
on
A regional program for food security and sovereignty in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
and
October 16 Regional World Food Day Forum
On food and nutrition security and child malnutrition
FAQs:
World Food Day: At the 1996 World Food Summit, held by the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), leaders of 185 countries and the European Community reaffirmed in the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, “the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger.”
The theme of this year’s World Food Day is “Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world.” (http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/)
PRESSAN Tri-Nation Child Malnutrition Survey and Growing Healthier Campaign: In 2009 CWS and regional PRESSAN members collaboratively conducted a survey in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to determine the prevalence of food insecurity and small child malnutrition in vulnerable communities—and to develop interventions to overcome this severe problem.
This study ( http://cwslac.org/files/docs/DiagParticipativoINGLES_web.pdf ) found alarming data on the status and condition of malnutrition affecting children under five years old in the targeted communities of the three neighboring countries.
CWS and PRESSAN partners confronted the challenge, launching the “Growing Healthier” campaign — a food and nutritional security program helping families develop access to nutritious food year round, every year, improve their nutrition awareness and food practices and improve water systems.
###
PRESSAN MEMBER ORGANIZATION PROFILES:
AMC – Christian Medical Action (Accion Médica Cristiana)
Managua, Nicaragua
www.amc.org.ni
Christian Medical Action is an ecumenical organization that implements community health actions and development in impoverished communities, focusing on women, children and adolescents.
CASM – Mennonite Commission for Social Action (Comision de Accion Social Menonita)
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
www.casm.hn/
The Mennonite Commission for Social Action seeks to promote sustainable development processes at a local and regional level. CASM is a key partner in our work to establish food and nutritional security in Central America and the Caribbean.
Church World Service
www.churchworldservice.org
CWS is a global relief, development and refugee assistance agency. In Latin America and the Caribbean, CWS and local partner organizations work hand in hand with vulnerable communities to help them develop and manage lasting solutions for food and nutrition security, water resources and better incomes and livelihoods.
CIEDEG – The Conference of Evangelical Churches of Guatemala (La Conferencia de Iglesias Evangélicas de Guatemala)
Guatemala City, Guatemala
www.nuevociedeg.org
The Conference of Evangelical Churches of Guatemala is a movement of Christian churches and communities that aims to strengthen its members’ theological reflection, advocacy and community-based work. CIEDEG is a PRESSAN partner in the collaborative work to establish food and nutritional security in Central America and the Caribbean.
CIEETS – The Interchurch Center for Theological & Social Studies (Centro Intereclesial de Estudios Teológicos y Sociales)
Managua, Nicaragua
www.cieets.org.ni/
CIEETS is an interdenominational organization established in 1985 to promote holistic community service with a focus on agro-ecological training; interchurch unity and cooperation; pastoral reflection and Biblical and theological studies. CIEETS represents Nicaraguan interfaith organizations, 26 denominations representing the country’s significant evangelical population, pastoral committees and community associations.